Emerald Fall
by mirroreddark
Summary: After returning from the DOM Harry doesn't meekly accept the fate the prophecy foretells. Dark!Harry, Multiple POVs, AU immediately after Chpt. 37 of OoTP
1. Do Not Go Quietly Into That Good Night

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter.

**Emerald Fall**

_**Do Not go Quietly Into That Good Night**_

Harry solemnly walked out of the headmaster's office, everything Dumbledore had told him rolling around in his head. So much, maybe too much to take in.

_Sirius was dead…._

_ His fault, Kreacher's fault, Dumbledore's fault, Snape's fault_

_The Prophecy…._

_ Kill or be killed, It had to be him, No way out_

_Dumbledore's confession of failure….._

_ He admitted it, that he should of done more_

_That Dumbledore cared too much…._

_ Does it really matter? So much could have been avoided, Why did he have to care?_

_His friends hurt…._

_ Definitely his fault, His foolish pride, His recklessness, They could have died_

_Bellatrix…. _

_ THE BITCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE KILLED HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Said I don't hate her enough, oh how she's wrong_

_Sirius…._

_ His Godfather, His Friend, A link to his parents, DEAD!!!! _

Harry slumped down against the wall next to the gargoyle, his head falling into his head falling onto his knees as he pulled them into his chest.

_God, what had he done? First Cedric and now Sirius…. How could he have let this happen?_

_Tears started flowing down his cheeks when he couldn't hold it in anymore. Why wasn't he stronger? Why didn't think things through more? Instead he always flew off half cocked. His fault!!!!!!!_

_Why hadn't Sirius listened to Snape? Why hadn't Sirius been less reckless? God why hadn't Sirius paid more attention to the duel? _

_Why, Why ,WHY!!!!!!_

_Why did Dumbledore have to dump that damn prophecy on him now!!!! That he had no choice because Voldemort would never stop hunting him. It didn't matter how far he could run, or even that he wouldn't run. Always in the end he would have to face Voldemort._

_DAMN THE PROPHECY!!!!!!! _

_It now controlled his life, had always controlled his life! It had taken his parents from him! It had taken any chance of a normal life away! It had taken Sirius away! It had nearly taken his friends from him!_

_DAMN DUMBLEDORE!!!_

_It didn't matter how much he cared for him, He should have told him about the prophecy! Even if Dumbledore didn't tell him the wording, just that existed. If he had known never to go to the Department of Mysteries no one would have been hurt, Sirius would have been alive. How simple it could have been to avoid. A five minute conversation could have prevented all of this!!!!!_

The sadness he had been feeling started to turn to anger. Harry jerked himself up and started pacing.

_He should have tried harder to learn Occlumency! His fault!_

_Sirius should never have been locked up in Grimmauld Place, not after Azkaban! Dumbleodre's fault!_

_Why couldn't he have been better, smarter, stronger? Why was he so weak that he let himself get into these situations? Why wasn't he powerfully enough to make sure it never happened?_

_Why couldn't Snape not be a bastard and teach him Occlumency in a way that made sense? _

_Why did Snape and Sirius have to have their damn school boy rivalry still? It didn't matter what Dumbledore said Snape goaded Sirius into being that reckless! _

_AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why was this all happening?_

_Dumbledore should have done more to help him! To teach him! To ensure he knew what was going on! All these years and Dumbledore is still only there to pick up the pieces at the end, after everything happens. He is never there to actually help until everything goes to hell!! At least he showed up to fight Voldemort this time! Every other year Harry had to pull some miracle of luck out his hat to just survive._

_DAMN IT!!!!!!_

_Dumbledore should have just walked Harry into the Department of Mysteries himself to get the prophecy so that Voldemort had no chance to get his slimy hands on it! Why hadn't Dumbledore done that!!!_

_He had to have wanted it there! Bait, assurance that eventually Voldemort had to show up there himself to get it! Screw everything else Dumbledore was just trying to get Voldemort to attack the Ministry! To show himself so the Wizarding World would believe Voldemort had returned! _

_And instead of warning Harry or doing anything truly preventative he had left Harry to stumble along on his own and Sirius had died because of it!_

_NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_How often had Dumbledore just let things happen to get his way?_

_The Stone?_

_The Chamber?_

_Sending just Harry and Hermione off to rescue Sirius?_

_SIRIUS!!!!! NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Dumbledore had been the head of the Wizengamont! Why hadn't he forced the Ministry to give Sirius a trial? Either time!!!!_

_DAMN DUMBLEDORE TO HELL!! EVERYTHING WAS HIS FAULT!!!  
IF DUMBLEDORE HAD JUST DONE MORE SIRIUS WOULD BE ALIVE! HARRY COULD HAVE BEEN LIVING WITH HIM! NO ONE WOULD BE HURT!!!_

Rage began building in Harry. Rage at himself for being foolish and weak, at Snape for being such a bastard, at Dumbledore for not doing enough, at Sirius for being so reckless, at Voldemort for ruining his life.

White-hot the anger and rage reignited inside him. All the emotion from tonight, from everything that had happened to him since he found out he was a wizard began to boil, spark, and flame into a rage like nothing he had ever felt before.

His magic responded and stirred within him. As the rage grew and grew his magic started storming out of him. A tremendous crack resounded as the corridor floor cracked in spider web with Harry at the center.

_He wouldn't ,couldn't take it all anymore! He wanted to stop it all! To not have to fight for his life every year! He didn't want to feel so much pain anymore, ever again! _

Sections of the wall around him were freezing over, the ice creeping along the stone in jagged bursts. Other parts were melting, the stone dripping down and hitting the floor leaving sizzling, steaming puddles of molten rock.

_Screw the Prophecy! Screw Dumbledore! Screw Voldemort! He wouldn't let this continue! He wouldn't be this weak pathetic boy whose reckless disregard had allowed Sirius to die!_

_He would get strong, more powerful! _

_Powerful enough to destroy Voldemort!_

_Powerful enough to make Bellatrix wish she had never killed Sirius!_

_Powerful enough that no one else but him would EVER be able to have any control of him or his actions again, ever again!_

Behind him the gargoyle was blasted back into the wall sealing the entrance to the headmaster's office.

_Dumbledore had wanted him to calm down. That was why he had staged that whole talk in his office. He wanted Harry to just accept his fate. To accept what had happened and move on._

_But he wouldn't accept it. Accepting it like that meant he should let go of the anger, the rage. No, no he needed the rage, needed its burning to drive him. Forget everything else, forget it all. Drown in the rage and let that drive him forward. Let it consume him. Consume him and turn him into someone who could never let this happen again. _

_Who cares if it wasn't rational, or right? Who cares if it was just plain mad?_

_He didn't want to be that foolish boy that had let this all happen! The reckless boy who got his godfather killed! _

_Let that old him be burned in the fire of his rage! _

_Let him be re-forged as something new!_

Setting off away from seventh floor, Harry drowned himself in his rage. He wrapped it over every inch of himself, stretched it to the farthest corners of his mind. It crackled on his skin, sent his robes into a manic fluttering, and caused his eyes to burn an unquenchable emerald.

Harry let himself be consumed so much he barely knew where he was walking. The walls of Hogwarts, which had withstood untold amounts of magic thrown against them over the years, warped and buckled and then rippled back into place like water at Harry's passing.

Moving staircases, ever the bane of those late to class, snapped into place before him as he descended. Never did Harry have to stop. Never did his foot hit a trick step or empty air.

The portraits along the walls wailed, moaned and yelled in anguish, struck with the tidal wave of rage that proceeded him. Struck blind and deaf, and in great pain not one painting could tell of Harry's passing. They just remembered the horror of that night, the agonizing blackness that had befallen them all.

Be it luck or chance it was not until he arrived on the second floor that Harry ran into a living soul. Standing at a junction in the deserted corridor Harry was marching down was Draco Malfoy.

The bane of his existence, his archrival, his enemy. The boy who had belittled and insulted him ever since they had arrived at Hogwarts. The son of the man who had laid in ambush at the Department of Mysteries.

"Hold it Potter what are you doing? Where is Professor Umbridge? Last I saw you were going into the forest with her."

That ever present sneer graced Malfoy's face. That pretentious attitude. That arrogance. He hated every bit of it. But he hated even more that he had ever wasted time on such a pathetic weakling. Malfoy was undeserving of this rage, this fury he had called forth. The ferret deserved to watch as Harry tore his precious Dark Lord down, as he destroyed Malfoy's father and aunt. Burning him now with this all consuming rage wasn't worth it. No he wanted to see Malfoy in despair, to see the look on his face when his dreams, his world was gone like Harry's was before he destroyed him.

"Answer me, Potter!"

"_Move_," was all Harry responded with. It came out icy smooth and deep, reverberating between them and shaking Malfoy to the core.

Malfoy took a step back and finally noticed what Harry's magic was doing to the castle around him. He took another step back, then another, until his back was against the wall behind him. Shaking all over he raised his wand until it was pointing at Harry. The tip was jostling frantically as he spoke, "Whatever your doing Potter stop it now," his voice cracking and scared.

"_Drop it Malfoy"_

At those words the walls on either side of Malfoy tore apart as if four gigantic claws had scored the wall, stopping just short of tearing Malfoy to shreds. Malfoy's wand clattered to the ground and he fell to his knees in panic. Ducking down till his head was on the ground and his hands on the back of his head, Malfoy never saw Harry just walk on by him with barely a second glance.

Harry continued along the second floor corridor until he reached a certain girls bathroom. Not even knowing why he had come here when driven by nothing but rage he opened the door and stepped inside.

Myrtle would never be able to re-count the events of that night to anyone if she truly even remembered it at all. Harry's aura of rage had driven her existence into a nightmare of the night of her murder. He wailing in the back corner of the bathroom, unable to think of anything but the pair of eyes that killed her, lasted for all night.

Harry stepped up to the sink that leads down to the chamber, his magic closing the door to the bathroom behind him. The cascade of raging magic that had surrounded him since he left the corridor near the headmasters office suddenly coiled tightly around him as he stared down at the small snake engraving and told it to open.

Grating aside the sink moved to reveal the pipe that lead down to the chamber.

_This dark slippery pipe lead me to Voldemort again, to Ginny's near death, my almost death._

_Another time I barely was able to survive because Dumbledore barely helped and I was too weak._

Blistering rage sprang up anew and at a thought the pipe rippled and warped and formed stairs leading down into the cavernous abyss. Harry took them slowly purposefully, his rage pulling him down and the Chamber calling him into its embrace, above him the entrance sealed itself cutting him off from Hogwarts and everything that he was leaving behind in his rage and desire for power.

Quietly, determinedly he stepped out of the pipe and strode through the cavern that stretched to the Chamber. His magic unfurled in fury again and began to lay waste to everything around him. Disintegrating boulders, scouring rock faces smooth, and calling new support columns forth from the depths of rock below his feet. When he reached the section of the tunnel that had collapsed when Lockhart's charm backfired, the cave-in was obliterated before him.

Finally he reached the two guardian serpents and at a hiss they parted and the wall split open giving him entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. Stepping forward he walked down the center till he reached the corpse of the basilisk where he stopped. Turning in place he surveyed the Chamber with its towering columns covered in snakes, to the towering statue of Slytherin at the far end, and finally lifted his eyes to the black void where the ceiling stretched so far up that it could not be seen.

Yes, Yes. Here he would turn his rage, his ire, his fury and temper it into the power he needed. He would re-forge himself until nothing and no one could stop him from having the life he wanted.

Magic swelled within him, driven by the extremes of his emotions, and he let it all go and it stormed out of him into a maelstrom that filled the entire chamber.

* * *

AN: This is a plot idea that I got while working on the beginning of A New Path. I finally decided to write at least the first chapter for now. I have a basic idea for the second chapter, but this is definitely a WIP. A New Path and its sequel are my real writing priority but I will update this as I get ideas and time to write. Looking forward to what everyone thinks of the story.


	2. Heroes Don't Die

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter and I make no profit from this.

**WARNING: **This is _not_ a nice chapter, at all. Violence, graphic imagery, torture. Be warned.

**Emerald Fall**

_**Heroes Don't Die **_

I was on the verge of screaming as I slammed the compartment door shut and threw every locking charm I knew at it. I am fucking tired of hearing about Potter. No one will stop talking about the git. Just because he oh so _valiantly_ faced the Dark Lord at the Ministry and then disappeared of the face of the Earth doesn't mean he needs to be the topic of _every_ conversation since. The damn bastard got my father arrested and all any cares about is where he disappeared to. Like I'm going to say anything about tha….

_NO! _Nothing happened at all that night! Rounds were boring and uneventful as always. I didn't see anything and I was most definitely _not_ scared out of my wits. Cold emerald eyes were not haunting my dreams at night either.

Sighing, I collapsed against into one of the seats. I didn't know what to do. Potter's disappearance had unleashed chaos. Dumbledore had been sealed in his office till after lunch, because probably Po….. _something_ had sealed shut the entrance to his office. So that morning the terror that broke loose in the school when the Prophet had reported the Dark Lords return didn't have Dumbledore supposedly reassuring presence to calm the rest of the fools down. They cowered, whispering in fear chocked bursts between themselves. Even my housemates were on edge not knowing what the future held.

Then the damn paper had the nerve to say that, maybe, just maybe, Potter was the best hope to kill the Dark Lord. There was no way that scrawny prat had a shot at killing the Dark Lord, it wasn't possible. Just because the crazy Gryffindors had somehow managed to survive long enough to get rescued when facing the Death Eaters doesn't mean that he has any chance of winning. I mean come on that whole damn group was in the hospital wing for days.

The professors hadn't been present, being fixing the horrendous damage that had been done to the castle overnight, and frantically searching the castle for Potter. They blocked off that stupid ghost's bathroom on the second floor for three days but nothing turned up. Even the old coot couldn't do anything when he finally got out of his office. The news somehow leaked and the next morning even more panic engulfed the school as the paper ran the story. By now, a week later, everyone but the Slytherins seemed to be falling into a state of perpetual fear.

It made me laugh quietly to myself when I was alone. If the cowards were afraid now, then just wait till the Dark Lord moved for real. If Potter wasn't coming back, the Dark Lord would come like a storm, and I intend to take a Malfoy's rightful place at his side. Father will be out of prison soon and then we will both serve the Dark Lord's noble cause. I can't wait to see the mudbloods and blood traitors on their knees begging to be spared before their taint is removed from this world.

I relaxed back into the seat. Almost home, and away from all this Potter crap. Now if only the nightmare's would go away.

###################################################################################

Walking through Diagon Alley with mother a few days after I got back from Hogwarts, I was amused to see the undercurrent of unease that passed through the crowds like a cold, cutting wind. I had to be careful not to let the smile I was feeling show. All these people were so caught up in a morbid desire to know what was going on. The Prophet had been filled with talk of what could possibly be done against the Dark Lord since Potter _still_ hadn't turned up. Oh, and the rash of murders of muggles the last two nights by Death Eaters, might have had something to do with it.

Anticipation swelled up inside me. The Dark Lord had sent word that I was to join in on a major raid in a few days. Random muggle killings were nothing compared to what was coming and I was going to be part of it. Plus Father was going to be released soon, getting off on a technicality he could exploit in the panic filled Ministry. The night he was to be released, we would stand together next to the Dark Lord and deal the first blow that would lead to our glorious victory. And the whimpering fools jumping at every shadow that I was walking past would have a real reason to be afraid.

As mother and I passed that ridiculous ice cream parlor, my attention was pulled to some pathetic child trying to get his parents attention as they sat debating what Potter's disappearance could mean. _Merlin_, would people think about anything else? I can't get away from it. I was barely paying attention, why should I, but one thing the kid said rung in my ears.

"Don't worry mommy. Harry Potter will be back, Heroes don't die."

The sad look on the mother's face barely registered as the ridiculousness of the statement froze my thoughts. _Heroes don't die?_ That's all their good for! Heroes never amount to anything, all they do is throw their lives away. Anyway even if Potter shows up all he's going to do is die after being confronted by his broken friends. Ahh, the memory of the mudblood, the weasel, and the rest of the soppy lions sitting at the leaving feast looking dejected and crushed, an empty place left unconsciously for Potter even after a week, would probably always be able to lift my spirits.

Shaking my head I caught up to mother and continued on our way. Only one stop left, the apothecary. I needed to get more ingredients to brew Dreamless Sleep. Malfoy's made their own potions of course, I wouldn't trust the store bought kind. I would be able to enjoy all the good things that had happened to me more if I didn't keep seeing shadows, emerald eyes, and storms of magic every time I closed my eyes. I shivered, yeah definitely needed those ingredients.

############################################################################### 

Father stood at my left shoulder as me stood in front of the Dark Lord waiting to go on the raid. Cloaked in a massive robe and cowl that hid everything but his crimson eyes, The Dark Lord struck an imposing figure. I was in awe of him, and a great pride filled me to be serving him next to my father. Shadows seemed to bend around him as he informed us that Potter had run and was gone, no longer a factor, cowardly ran off after his godfather's death at the Ministry. The Dark Lord would let him run to the ends of the Earth, and when there wasn't a single part of the world the Death Eaters hadn't conquered he could run to, Potter would die on his knees before the Dark Lord. That grand conquest would start tonight.

Fudge was about to be thrown out as Minister, and the spies in the Ministry had reported that the Head Auror Rufus Scrimgeour would take his place. The Dark Lord had decided that they would send a message to the Ministry by killing the man who was supposed to pull them through the war. Scrimgeour lived on the outskirts of London in a neighborhood that several other prominent Ministry officials shared. The Dark Lord himself would lead a group of thirty of us to Scrimgeour's House and raze the entire area, killing everyone. It would be a grand show of power to start the war.

As the Dark Lord finished Father put a hand on my shoulder and then apparated us at the Dark Lord's command. We landed in a small square surrounded by the upscale homes we where targeting. I reached up and adjusted the bone white mask that hid my faced and pulled the hood farther down to insure that my rather distinctive hair didn't show. Father was proud that I was being allowed to come but had insisted I take every precaution against being identified in case the Aurors managed to show up. The Death Eaters and I formed a circle around the Dark Lord as he had instructed as he gave a triumphant roar. With a swirl of his wand a ward formed around the outside of all the houses on the square, preventing escape.

The Dark Lord gave another laugh and a trail of black and crimson fire leapt from his wand to the house that belonged to Scrimgeour. Fiendfyre, the unquenchable cursed flame. I watched in awe as the flames caught and began to engulf the house. Without even pausing the Dark Lord swept the trail of flames over our heads setting every house on the square alit. A terrible roar filled the air as the fire engulfed everything around me.

"I am Lord Voldemort and this world belongs to me!" The Dark Lord spoke in a resounding voice that felt like a wave of force as it hit me. He threw back the cowl and the crimson firelight crawled over the pale skin of his monstrous face. This was the Dark Lord in all his power, and that thought froze me to the core. I couldn't look away from him.

I broke my gaze away when the horror filled screams began to echo out of the houses. I turned in time to see a tall lion of a man that had to be Scrimgeour pulling two young girls who could barely have been seven years old out of the aflamed house only to have a great serpent of fire leap out after them. It struck and their flesh itself caught fire and began to melt off before it burned to ash, their bones following shortly after. Cold cruel laughter echoed through my head as I tried not to faint or fall to the ground in horror and disgust.

I looked on as more people managed to scramble out of the houses before the fiendfyre completely consumed them, only to be sent back into the grasp of the monstrous beast formed from the black and crimson tongues of flame by curses from the other Death Eaters.

My mind froze as father used a blast of force to send a woman carrying a baby into the waiting jaws of a dragon. The smell of burned flesh hit me as an almost physical blow as the horror at what I was seeing burned almost as bad as the heat of the flames.

The Dark Lord sent the Dark Mark soaring into the sky above the square. The eerie sick green light coming off the mark turned the falling ash into a vision of poisonous green snow.

I barely registered the Dark Lord dropping the barrier he had put up to let the inferno loose and father apparating us home. I managed to make it into the privacy of my private bathroom before vomiting. Throwing the macabre mask away I stared at my deathly pale face in the mirror, unable to process everything that had happened that night. The smell of the people burning that clung to my robes and invaded my nostrils caused me to retch again. I have no idea how long I stayed in the bathroom before I managed to drag myself to my bed silently glad father had never come to check on me, before sleep engulfed me in unrelenting emerald.

####################################################################################

_Pain, unbelievable pain, as the brand of the Dark Lord was seared unrelentingly into my flesh. My nerves afire as I caught father's eyes. The slightly haunted look had to be a fever dream, all father had talked about lately was the glory of the Dark Lord. _

_Screams came from the muggle I had been ordered to torture. Rending wounds appeared as I cursed, spurting blood, with a sea of faceless white masks and black cloaks surrounded me. _

_Nagini sent shivers up my spine and threatened to break my fragile façade as she slithered around me as I severed a hand. Searing the stump caused the muggle to let out a blood curdling scream as the unrelenting smell of burnt flesh thrust another spear of terror into me._

_Blood flowed out of my hair from as I stood in the shower. I had no idea what time it was. Twenty muggles cut apart for a ritual. I had split their stomachs and measured out ropes of intestines, preserving skin and blood for potions. _

_Flicking my wand the captured auror's leg bones liquefied from a curse father had insisted I learn. This was the fifth one tonight to be tortured for information, though the first I had to participate on. _

_Cold water did nothing to wake me as I stood at the sink after another time spent vomiting. The ghostly pallor of my skin wouldn't go away. Dark circles, a newly permanent feature on my face. What little sleep I got was filled with emerald and my days with crimson._

_I killed a classmate tonight. I didn't even know her name. Just some Hufflepuff in the year below I had seen around. A mudblood who's terrified face was burned into my eyes. Just another raid. Her soundless screams worse than any sound as I turned her very blood to acid and watched it eat her from the inside out._

_Dumbledore secured the Ministry against the Dark Lord. Crucio was dealt out to everyone. Its fire curled around me wrapping me in agony. I could never get used to the feeling._

_How long had it been since I had come for the summer? Since everything had happened? Since my world had turned to hell?_

_Father said he was more proud of me than ever tonight. I haven't spent that long vomiting for a week._

_Have I even been sleeping the last while? The blood that flowed when I cut that mudblood's throat ran emerald onto my robes. _

_I know now what it looks like when a human is turned inside out. _

_The Dark Lord destroyed any entire town tonight. Just a field of unmarked corpses now. _

_Is this what it feels like to go insane?_

_Is this what I wanted?_

_I'm no longer a virgin. The blood took forever to wash off._

_Emerald eyes follow me even when I'm awake now. _

Only a week till I leave for Hogwarts.

#####################################################################################

Fear took me as I laid there on the muddy field trying to get up and flee. My leg wouldn't move, and it burned. Blazes of light burned in my eyes, Dumbledore had come. We had lured a large group of Aurors to this field Merlin knows where, to eliminate them. The Dark Lord had taken the field and things were going well. I dueled mindlessly, almost madly looking forward to the silent dreams of emerald that would consume my world after the battle. The Aurors were being driven back, on the brink of panic, when the storm came.

A wall of curses had hit our flank, Dumbledore's Order, with the headmaster at their front. Chaos took the field as the Aurors rallied and the Dark Lord turned in a mindless rage on Dumbledore. Then the light came.

With a few slashes of his wand Dumbledore had called swords of fiery light down from the heavens onto the Dark Lord. He followed by ripping trees from the edge of field turned muddy with blood and a conjured storm. Launching the trunks into the sky Dumbledore transfigured them to diamond. I had never seen that hard look on his face before as he moved the diamond trunks into the paths of the swords of light. They hit the diamond and turned the sky into a storm of reflected destruction.

The Dark Lord frantically conjured shields of darkness, silver, and stone to protect him. I lost track after that as one of the beams of diamond scattered light struck my leg, paralyzing it and giving me a world of pain.

I tried to pull myself through the muck as I saw an Order member coming my way firing curses at the Death Eaters frantically trying to find cover or writhing on the ground in pain unable to move.

A curse flew over my head and opened the Order member's gut spilling his intestines onto the ground. Father came up and pulled me off the ground. With a wordless snarl he conjured a shield to deflect several curses hurled our way and another wave of Dumbledore's beams of light. I blacked out as I felt the jerk of a portkey pulling us back to the Manor.

################################################################################

Sitting in the carriage rolling towards Hogwarts, I could barely believe it had only been a little over two months. I had lost all sense of time in the relentless wave of raids and torture. Seeing the thestrals that pulled the carriages gave me more of a shock that I had expected. Their bony ebony forms brought the rush of agonizing memories back and I choked on the smell of burning flesh.

Though it was a relief to be able to escape to school, it was also terrifying. I hadn't really had the time to think, so much had I been forced to do. Now I would have too much time, and I don't know if I am going to be able to deal with it all. If this summer was what the glory of the Dark Lord represented, I don't know if I can take it. The thought terrified me. What if the Dark Lord won? Yes Dumbledore had driven him away and injured him in that last battle. I still limped from my wound. But I didn't think that even Dumbledore could win.

Any further thought was cut off at the sight of the castle. I had to admit I had always thought that Hogwarts had a majestic quality to it. It represented so much of what our world is. I had always looked forward to watching the castle as we approached. But not this time.

It wasn't that the there wasn't anything different in the lines of parapets or the rise of the tower spires. I got a foreboding feeling though, looking at the castle. Shadows seemed to stretch and wrap themselves around the castle even at night. The lights that usually blazed in the windows welcoming its students back were dulled and distant. Hogwarts no longer looked like the bastion of hope it had been for generations. Instead it reflected the grim atmosphere that had gripped the Isles. I turned away, I couldn't look at it anymore.

###############################################################################

Saying the sorting was subdued was an understatement. The panic that had gripped the student body at the end of last year had been replaced by misery. The weasel and the mudblood huddled at the Gryffindor table, their faces grey and resigned, Potter still absent and them looking lost. The professors' grim façade did not reassure anyone, nor did the wounds several of them bore from the last battle.

Things had been even more shaken when the sorting hat didn't sing a song. I was frozen as it insisted to just start the sorting immediately instead. My world had been shattered and nothing was letting me try to put it back together again. Every solid thing about Hogwarts I needed to rely on seemed to vanish as mist before me. Even Dumbledore's speech was quiet and nearly emotionless. He was holding a black scarred hand tenderly, the only wound the Dark Lord had managed to inflict before he fled the field.

The Great Hall itself was a muted reflection of itself. Maybe half the usual number of candles floated in the air as I looked up. The ceiling was nothing but an endless plane of dark thunderclouds. The shadows throughout the hall seemed to swallow all light. I looked into the shadowed corners and thought I was going to be pulled into an abyss. I shuddered; this was not going to be a good year.

It was as I looked into an alcove along the wall behind the Gryffindor table that I thought I saw something. Straining to pear more closely; I thought I could make out the outline of a cloaked figure, darker than the shadows around it. Before I had any time to think, the figure turned its head and I locked on to the emerald eyes that had plagued me all summer.

My housemates looked at me strangely as I drew in a startled breath and blinked. In the fraction of second my eyes closed the figure disappeared. My breath caught and I froze.

No, I could not have just seen that. Potter couldn't be here. That couldn't be Potter. Those eyes had been filled with nothing but cold fury and power. That wasn't Potter. That wasn't that annoyingly sappy do gooder I knew.

But long repressed memories of the night Potter had disappeared forced themselves to the surface. They kept me up late into the night with the two views of the fury filled emerald eyes.

But no I won't accept it. Potter can't have changed. No, he was that damn stupid Gryffindor who would charge in and miraculously beat the Dark Lord like he had done before. He would save the day and rescue me, all of us, from this nightmare. No, that can't have been Potter, because Potter was the hero. And heroes don't die.

**AN**: So not a nice chapter, Draco definitely got a reality check. Third chapter will be in progress but I am going to start the sequel to A New Path first.

**Review Reponses:** MinnieKat, Therio, GinaStar: Thanks for the reviews! Glad you enjoyed it so far.


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